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At dinner the Professor found the Colonel much calmer than he had been in the afternoon．Later，the two men played cards together and， as Parkins played cards much better than he played golf，the Colonel became quite friendly and they arranged to play golf together again the next day．

When Parkins returned to his room， he found the little met- al pipe where he had put it on the table．He looked at it carefully and realized that it was a whistle．He tried to blow it but it was full of earth，so he took out his knife and cleared the earth out onto a piece of paper，which he then shook out of the window As he stood at the open window， he was surprised to see someone standing on the grass in front of the hotel， although it was almost midnight．

He shut the window and took the whistle over to the light to look at it again He cleaned the dirt off and found that there were letters deeply cut along the side of the whistle．

QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT

'Now，that's Latin，'he said to himself．'I think it means， “Who is this who is coming？”Well， the best way to find out is clearly to whistle for him．'

He put the whistle to his lips and blew，then stopped suddenly，surprised and pleased at the sound he had made．It was a soft sound， but also seemed to travel a long way．And it brought a picture into his mind—a picture of a wide，dark place at night， with a fresh wind blowing， and in the middle a lonely figure…But at that moment a real wind made his window shake，and the picture disappeared．The wind was so sudden that it made him look up，just in time to see the white shape of a seabird's wing outside the window．

He was so interested in the sound the whistle had made that he blew it again，this time more loudly．No picture came into his mind，but a sudden and very violent wind blew his window open with a crash．Both candles went out，and the wind seemed to be trying to pull the room to pieces．For twenty seconds Parkins battled to close the window again，but it was like trying to push back a burglar who was fighting to get in． Then the wind suddenly dropped for a moment，and the window banged shut and fastened itself．Parkins lit the candles and lookea to see what damage had been done．There was none— not even a broken window．But the noise had woken the Colonel in the room above；Parkins could hear him walking around and talking to himself．

The wind continued to blow for a long time，beating against the house and crying like a creature in pain．Lying in bed，listening，Parkins thought that a less sensible person might imagine all kinds of unpleasant things．In fact，after a quarter of an hour，he thought that even sensible people would prefer not to hear this sound．

He noticed that one of his neighbours was finding it difficult to sleep，too．He could quite clearly hear someone not far away，turning over in bed again and again．

Sometimes when we close our eyes and try to sleep， we see pictures that are so unpleasant that we have to open our eyes again to make them disappear． This is what now happened to the Professor．Every time he closed his eyes he saw the same picture．There was a long beach with breakwaters running down to the sea，under a dark sky He recognized it as the beach he had walked along earlier Then，in the distance， he saw a man running along the beach，climbing desperately over the breakwaters and looking back over his shoulder all the time． Parkins could not see his face， but he knew that the man was terribly afraid． He was also nearly exhausted Each breakwater was harder to climb than the last．'Will he get over this next one？'thought Parkins．'It seems higher than the others．'Yes； half climbing， half throwing himself， the man got over，and then fell to the ground， unable to get up again．

The picture had not yet shown any cause for the man's fear， but now a distant figure appeared，moving very quickly．It wore a long， flowing garment， and there was something so strange about the way it moved that Parkins was very unwilling to see it any closer．It stopped，lifted its arms， bent down towards the sand，then ran，still bent over，down to the edge of the sea and back again．Now it straightened itself，and moved forward along the beach at a frightening speed．At last it came to the breakwater where the man lay hidden． Again it ran down to the sea and back again， then lifted its arms and ran towards the breakwater．

It was always at this moment that Parkins was not brave enough to keep his eyes closed any longer．At last he decided to light his candle，get out a book， and read for a while．The noise of the match and the sudden light seemed to alarm some－ thing near his bed—a rat， probably—which ran away across the floor． The match immediately went out， but a second one burnt better，and Parkins lit the candle and opened his book． When he finally felt sleepy， he forgot， for the first time in his tidy， sensible life， to blow out the candle， and the next morning it was completely burnt down．

He was in his room after breakfast when the servant who cleaned the rooms came in，carrying some blankets．

'Would you like any extra blankets on your bed，sir？' she asked．

'Ah， yes，thank you，'said Parkins．'I would like one．I think it's getting colder．'

'Which bed shall I put it on，sir？' the girl asked．

'What？ Why， the one I slept in last night，' replied Parkins．

'Yes，sir． But we thought you'd slept in both of them， sir．We had to make both of them this morning．'

'Really？How strange！'said Parkins．'I didn't touch the other bed except to put my suitcase on it when I unpacked． But you thought that someone had actually slept in it？'

'Oh yes，sir．The sheets and blankets were thrown all over the place．I thought you'd had bad dreams， sir．'

'Oh dear，' said Parkins．'Well，I'm sorry if I made extra work for you．Oh， I'm expecting a friend of mine from Cam- bridge to come for a few days and sleep in the other bed．That will be all right，I suppose？

'Oh yes，sir，'said the girl．'It's no trouble， I'm sure． Thank you， sir．'And she left the room .

That day Parkins tried very hard to improve his game，with some success， and the Colonel became even more friendly， and quite talkative．

'That was an extraordinary wind we had last night， he said as they were playing．'In my part of the country they would say that someone had been whistling for it．'

'Do they really believe in that kind of thing where you come from？'asked Parkins．

'They believe in it all over the place，'the Colonel replied． 'And，in my experience，there's usually some truth in what the country people say．'

There was a pause in the conversation while they continued with the game Then Parkins said，'I feel I should tell you， Colonel，that I hold very strong opinions on these matters．In fact，I don't believe at all in anything supernatural．'

'What？' cried the Colonel，'D'you mean to say that you don't believe in ghosts，or anything of that kind？'

'In nothing whatever of that kind，'replied Parkins． 'There is an explanation for everything， you see．In fact，'he went on，'I blew a whistle myself last night，and the wind seemed to come in answer to my call．But of course—'

The Colonel stopped and looked at him．'Whistling， were you？' he said．'What kind of whistle did you use？ Your turn to play，sir．'

Parkins hit his ball，and then told the Colonel about finding the old whistle in the Templar church．

'Well，sir，I'd be very careful about using a thing like that，'said the Colonel．'Who knows what the Templars used it for？ Dangerous lot of people，they were．'

He went on to give his opinions on the church，old and modern，and the two men had a very enjoyable argument． The morning passed so pleasantly that they continued to play golf together in the afternoon，then walked back in the evening light to the Globe．

As they turned the corner of the inn，the Colonel was nearly knocked down by a small boy who ran into him at high speed， and then remained holding on to him and crying．At first the Colonel was rather annoyed，but he soon saw that the boy was so frightened that he could not speak．

'What's the matter？What have you seen？Who has frightened you？ the two men asked together．

'Oh sir！I saw it wave at me out of the window， 'cried the boy，'and I don't like it．'

'What window？' said the Colonel crossly．'Explain your－ self，boy．'

'The front window in the inn，sir，upstairs．'

After several questions they learnt that the boy had been playing with his friends on the grass in front of the inn． When the others had gone home for their tea，he had looked up at the big front window and had seen something waving at him． It was a figure of some kind，in white．The boy couldn't see its face，but it had waved at him．There was something horrible about it，and it wasn't like a human being at all．

'It was someone trying to frighten you，'said the Colonel． 'Next time， like a brave little English boy， you throw a stone at it…Well，perhaps not that；but tell the people in the inn about it． Now，here's sixpence for you，and you'd better run along home for your tea．'

The two men went round to the front of the inn and looked up．There was only one window that fitted the description they had heard．

'That's very strange，'said Parkins．'I remember that I locked my door when I went out this morning and the key is still in my pocket．'

They went upstairs，found that the door of the room was still locked，unlocked it，and went in．

'Well，everything seems perfectly all right，'said Parkins， looking around．

'Except your bed，'said the Colonel．

'That's not my bed，'said Parkins．'But it certainly looks very untidy．The sheets and blankets were thrown about all over the bed．Parkins thought for a while．'Ah，'he said，'I disarranged it when I was unpacking．Perhaps the girl came in to make the bed，the boy saw her at the window，and then she was called away before she could finish it．'

'Well，ring the bell and ask her，'said the Colonel．

When the girl came，she explained that she had made the bed in the morning and that no one had been in the room since the Professor had left．Mr Simpson，the manager，had the only other key．Mr Simpson then came up and said that he had not been in the room himself，and had not given the key to anyone else．Parkins checked the room carefully；nothing was missing and his books and papers were as he had left them． The girl made the bed again and the two men went down to have their tea．

That evening， Colonel Wilson was unusually quiet and thoughtful during dinner and cards and，as they were going up to their rooms， he said to Parkins：

'You know where I am if you need me during the night．'

'Thank you，Colonel，but I don't expect to call on you，'replied Parkins．'Oh，I have that whistle I told you about． Would you like to see it？'

The Colonel turned the whistle over in his hands，looking at it carefully．

'What are you going to do with it？' he asked．

'I'll show it to the people at Cambridge when I get back and probably give it to the museum，if it's any good．'

'If it were mine，'said the Colonel，'I'd throw it into the sea right now．But，of course， you and I don't think the same way about these things．Good night．'

And he went off to his room．

There were no curtains at the windows in the Professor's room．The previous night it had not mattered， but tonight there was a bright moon in a cloudless sky．Parkins was afraid that the moonlight might wake him up in the middle of the night，so he arranged a blanket，held up with a stick and his umbrella，which would stop the moonlight shining on to his bed．Soon he was comfortably in bed where he read a book for a while．Then he blew out his candle and went to sleep．

An hour or so later he was suddenly woken by a loud crash． In a moment he realized that the blanket had fallen down and a bright moon was shining on his bed．Should he get up and put the blanket up again，or could he manage to sleep if he did not？He lay in bed for several minutes trying to decide what to do．

All at once he turned over in bed，eyes wide open，listening hard．There had been a movement in the other bed！Was it a rat？The sound came again，something moving in the blankets and making the bed shake．No rat could make a noise like that，surely！

Suddenly his heart nearly stopped beating as a figure sat up in the empty bed．Parkins jumped out of his own bed and ran towards the window to get his stick．As he did so，the thing in the other bed slid to the floor and stood， with arms stretched out，between Parkins and the door．

Parkins stared at the creature in horror．He could not reach the door without touching it as he passed，and the thought of that touch made him feel sick．

Now it began to move，bending low and feeling its way with arms that were hidden in its flowing garment．Parkins realized with horror that it could not see．It turned away from him and，in doing so，touched the bed he had just left． It bent its head low and felt all over the bed in a way that made Parkins tremble with fear．

Realizing that the bed was empty，the creature moved for－ ward into the moonlight which shone in through the window． For the first time Parkins saw it clearly， but the only thing he could remember later was a horrible， a sickeningly horrible， face of crumpled cloth．The expression on that face he could not or would not describe， but it certainly drove him nearly mad with fear．

But he had no time to watch it for long．With frightening speed the creature moved around the room，searching and feeling，and a corner of its flowing garment brushed across Parkins'face． He screamed in horror， and at once it jumped at him， driving him towards the window． The next moment Parkins was halfway through the window backwards，screaming again and again at the top of his voice， and the cloth face was pushed close into his own．

In that final second，the Colonel kicked the door open and was just in time to see the frightening sight at the window． When he reached the figures， only one was left．Parkins fell forward into the room in a faint，and before him on the floor lay a crumpled bedsheet．

The Colonel asked no questions，but kept everyone out of the room， helped Parkins back to bed and，with a blanket round his shoulders，spent the rest of the night in the other bed．

The next morning Mr Rogers arrived and，to his surprise，was very warmly welcomed by the Professor．The three men discussed what to do for a long time．The Colonel，who remembered a similar experience in India，supposed that the creature，having no body of its own，had to make one out of the sheet from the bed．At the end of their talk，the Colonel left the hotel carrying between his finger and thumb a small piece of metal，which he threw into the sea as far as a strong arm could send it．Later，he burnt the sheet in the field be－ hind the Globe．